Sydney moves one step closer to hosting Scotties

Gordan McNabb, left, general manager of Curling Canada, speaks with Paul MacDonald, general manager of Centre 200 in Sydney on Wednesday. Sydney is hoping to host the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian Curling Women’s Championship and McNabb’s visit was part of that ongoing process.

SYDNEY, N.S. — Sydney moved one step closer to hosting the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian Curling Women’s Championship on Wednesday after being visited by officials from Curling Canada.

Gordon McNabb, general manager of Curling Canada, was touring Sydney to see if the community was capable of hosting the tournament by evaluating venues like Centre 200, which will host the event, as well as finding out more about the number of volunteers, ticket sales and transportation.

McNabb said that he’s been impressed with the showing Sydney has offered.

“You’re (Sydney) doing very well. I like what I see and hopefully there’s good news down the road,” said McNabb, who added that the venues were impressive to him. “It’s a very well looked after building; it’s got a lot of features that we need, lots of space, lots of room.

“There’s no issues at all.

In 2016, a local bid committee made an unsuccessful attempt to bring the 2018 Scotties to Cape Breton, losing out to Penticton, B.C.

Paul MacDonald, general manager of Centre 200 in Sydney, said that this time around he and the committee are feeling a lot more positive about the bid.

“There’s no question. Honestly, this time around we sat down and took to heart what Curling Canada told us from our last bid and we really prepared for the ticket drive,” said MacDonald.

“That was a key point in this program and we had a strategy, six weeks of hard work with a lot of people pulling on the same rope.”

MacDonald said that, as of right now, there have been more than 900 advanced tickets ordered for the tournament. He added that it shows Cape Bretoners, and not just curlers, are interested in hosting the event.

“This shows that the community, not just curling but the entire community, backs this particular bid and I think that’s important for Curling Canada to see — that the community offers its support,” said MacDonald.

In April, CBRM council passed a motion to contribute $150,000 to bring the tournament to the community. The tournament, which brings together provincial and territorial winners from across Canada, could have an economic impact of $6-12 million.

CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke said that because of the hard work done, he’s confident that Cape Breton is a frontrunner to host the prestigious women’s curling tournament and present Cape Breton on a national stage.

“When we look at the economic benefits we can see almost $12,000,000 of an economic impact for our city, but it’s also an opportunity to showcase Cape Breton Island as a whole and Nova Scotia as a destination.

“Our team has put together an excellent bid and the feedback has been phenomenal right now,

so I look forward to hopefully a positive decision to hurry hard and get ready for scotties in 2019,” said Clarke.

McNabb said he will now go back and discuss his recommendations with Curling Canada. The final decision will be made at the end of September, with the winning city having a press conference to share the news.

The other cities vying to host the tournament are kept secret due to some not wanting the exposure.

The last time the tournament was hosted in Nova Scotia was in 1992 in Halifax.